The Scriptures Identify the Transition from the Legs to the Feet.
In the last three weeks we have spent a little time discussing various interpretations of Daniel 2 in which a Stone “cut without hands” (Daniel 2:34) strikes the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. The Statue depicts a succession of Four Empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. It has legs of iron, signifying the strength of Rome (Daniel 2:40), but has feet of iron and clay, signifying that “the kingdom shall be divided” for the kings of the Fourth Empire “shall mingle themselves with the seed of men” (Daniel 2:41, 43). The Stone strikes the Statue “upon his feet that were of iron and clay” (Daniel 2:34). Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 4)→
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
Last week, after describing the two judicial movements in each vision of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, we touched briefly on the distinction between possessing a heavenly kingdom and having dominion over an earthly one. They are not the same thing, and Roman Catholicism has confused the former for the latter. As we mentioned previously, Taylor Marshall in his book, The Eternal City, thinks he has found in Roman Catholicism the bride of Christ because Roman Catholicism took dominion after the collapse of the Roman Empire: Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 3)→
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
Last week, we started a discussion on the Four Empires depicted in the visions of Daniel chapters 2 and 7—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. As we demonstrated with citations from Early Church Fathers, a Roman Catholic apologist and a Protestant commentary, the judgment scene in Daniel 7 is typically collapsed into a single event in which the Fourth Beast (Rome) and the Little Horn (the Antichrist) are destroyed together. It is typical for the judgment scene in Daniel 2—the Stone striking the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—to be depicted in the same way: as a single act of judgment against the series of empires. But in both chapters, the text and the context convey an extended judgment, and Daniel 7 explicitly states that after the initial act of judgment against the body of the Fourth Beast, the lives of the preceding empires are granted a continuance of sorts.
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
The statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as depicted in Daniel chapter 2, has been the object of considerable study and speculation since Daniel first understood and revealed the dream. The statue represents four kingdoms that will come upon the earth, beginning with, and including, Nebuchadnezzar’s (Daniel 2:37-40). The “head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay” (Daniel 2:22-32). These represented the current and coming world empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. As Daniel explains, the fourth kingdom starts with the strength of iron, but its Feet and Toes are part iron and part clay, which is to signify that the once strong kingdom “shall be divided” but with “the strength of the iron” (Daniel 2:41). In this vision, a stone carved without hands “smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay” (Daniel 2:34) and “it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold” (Daniel 2:45). As Daniel explains, the meaning of the stone is that “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 1)→
“PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5:28)
This week we conclude this week our analysis of the Bowls of Revelation 16. Per our analysis thus far, the first five Bowls of Revelation are
The First Bowl: The Stigmata (1224 A.D. – present) The Second Bowl: The Plague of Scurvy (1453 – late 1700s A.D.) The Third Bowl: The Dogma of Papal Infallibility (1870 A.D.) The Fourth Bowl: Scorching by the Sun at Fátima (1917 A.D.) The Fifth Bowl: The first (and only) formally ex cathedra papal statement in Roman Catholic history (1950 A.D.).
The First Bowl was poured out “upon the earth” (Revelation 16:2), the Second “upon the sea” (Revelation 16:3), the Third “upon the rivers and fountains of waters” (Revelation 16:4) and the Fourth “upon the sun” (Revelation 16:8). The Fifth Bowl is poured out directly “upon the seat of the beast” (Revelation 16:10).
“When the Church makes something infallible, I wish they would just do it plainly and clearly.” — Robert Sungenis, August 5, 2008
This week we continue our series on the Bowls of Judgment in Revelation 16. The first four Bowls thus far are:
The First Bowl: The Stigmata (1224 A.D. – present) The Second Bowl: The Plague of Scurvy (1453 – late 1700s A.D.) The Third Bowl: The Dogma of Papal Infallibility (1870 A.D.) The Fourth Bowl: Scorching by the Sun at Fátima (1917 A.D.)
The First Bowl was poured out “upon the earth” (Revelation 16:2), the Second “upon the sea” (Revelation 16:3), the Third “upon the rivers and fountains of waters” (Revelation 16:4) and the Fourth “upon the sun” (Revelation 16:8).
This Fifth Bowl is poured out directly “upon the seat of the beast” and the people “gnawed their tongues for pain” because of it (Revelation 16:10). We therefore note with no small interest that at the Third Bowl, when the Dogma of Papal Infallibility was proclaimed, the Pope was said to be infallible “when he speaks [with his tongue] ex cathedra [from his seat]” (Vatican Council I, Pastor Æternus, chapter IV). The Pope’s seat, from which he claims to speak infallibly, is the target of this Fifth Bowl, and his kingdom is thereby plunged into darkness. Continue reading If the Light that is in Thee be Darkness (the Bowls, part 5)→
“The sun came down upon us. We felt the heat. We thought it was the end of the world!” — Mrs. Erminia Caixeiro, eyewitness.
This is our fourth week in the series on the Bowls of Revelation. The First Bowl of judgment is a weeping sore that afflicts the men who worship the Image of the Beast. We understand this to be the Stigmata, a weeping, bleeding sore that is highly correlated to eucharistic adoration. Francis of Assisi was the first recipient in 1224 A.D., and many eucharistic worshipers suffer from it to this day. Roman Catholics have historically considered the Stigmata to be a sign of God’s blessing, but it is in fact a curse from Him.
The Second Bowl is a plague in which all those affected by it die at sea. We understand this to refer to the plague of scurvy, which killed millions of men on the long-haul sea journeys around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in search of Indian spices between 1453 and 1800 A.D.. The Spanish and the Portuguese considered the discovery of the eastern and western sea routes to India to be a great blessing from God, but those long haul voyages became a curse to them and their crews.
At the pouring of the Third Bowl, all the “rivers and fountains” are turned to blood. Because we understand “rivers and fountains” both here and in the Third Trumpet to refer to the Word of God, we understand that the “rivers and fountains” became bitter with Wormwood in the Third Trumpet when Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate, but they turned to blood in the Third Bowl when the dogma of Papal Infallibility was proclaimed by Vatican Council I in 1870. By proclaiming the dogma, the Council had essentially subjugated the Word of God to the word of the Pope. Roman Catholics consider Papal Infallibility to be a great blessing from God through which the successors of Peter are alleged to guard infallibly the purity of the faith. In reality, by pouring out the dogma of papal infallibility on Roman Catholics, God “hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy” (Revelation 16:6).
The first three Bowls of Judgment are, thus far:
The First Bowl: The Stigmata (1224 A.D. – present) The Second Bowl: The Plague of Scurvy (1453 – late 1700s A.D.) The Third Bowl: The Dogma of Papal Infallibility (1870 A.D.)
As we have progressed through the Seals, the Trumpets and Bowls of Revelation, we notice that there are aids to interpretation provided within the text, aids that assist in the identification of each Seal, Trumpet and Bowl. It is our conviction that each Seal, Trumpet and Bowl is sufficiently described in Revelation that it is possible to identify each particular one particularly. Whereas there have been interpretations in the past that identify the Trumpets generally as a series of calamities, we believe each calamity can be identified. The same is true of each Seal and each Bowl, and even the fractions matter (i.e., 1/3 of the trees (Revelation 8:7), 1/4 of the earth (Revelation 6:8), etc…). Continue reading They Hewed Out Broken Cisterns (The Bowls, part 3)→
Vasco da Gama’s ship rounding the Cape of Good Hope en route to India in search of spices in 1497.
Last week we began our series on the Bowls of Revelation 16, the first of which was the Stigmata, the “noisome and grievous sore” that fell “upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2). As we explained last week, the Papacy is the Beast, the Apparition of Mary is the False Prophet, and the Eucharist is the Image of the Beast of Revelation 13. The Stigmata, which is alleged to be an imitation of the five wounds of Christ, is known to manifest in those most fervently devoted to the worship of the Eucharist, and in some, their sores start bleeding at the mere mention of it. Padre Pio, one of the most famous practitioners of Eucharistic Adoration and now known as a patron saint of Eucharistic adorers, is the second most famous Stigmatist in history. Francis of Assisi is the first. In the 12th century, Francis of Assisi was one of the most vocal proponents of Eucharistic Adoration, a practice that had only begun the previous century, and as one of its early advocates he also became the first man in history to receive the “noisome and grievous sore” of the wrath of God for worshiping the Image of the Beast. In 1224 A.D., he received the Stigmata, a “noisome and grievous sore” that continues to afflict Eucharistic adorers to this day.
Before we proceed into a discussion on the Seven Bowls of Revelation, we will need to spend a few moments with Francis of Assisi. Aside from Mother Teresa, there is hardly a more sympathetic figure in Roman Catholicism. Modern Protestants and evangelicals often hail him as “one of ours” and for this reason prayers and quotes—rightly or wrongly attributed to him—find their way into Protestant sermons, into church bulletins and onto church marquises. Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Familywrote favorably of “our man” Francis, and Mark Galli of Christianity Today compiled a biography of him, entitled Francis of Assisi and His World. In the book he explains that Francis was
“a complex and contentious man who combined an irradiated mysticism with a very practical Christian commitment and, above all, sought to glorify God as Creator.”
Ian Paisley (April 6, 1926 – September 12, 2014) understood the truth about Roman Catholicism.
In honor of Ian Paisley, departed but not dead, we here publish his precis of Scottish Presbyterian James Aitken Wylie’s classic, The Papacy is the Antichrist. This was once common knowledge among Protestants, but the passage of time has turned the Church’s opposition to Antichrist into complacency, and in some cases, into complicity. But we stand with Paisley and Wylie in their insistence that “the Papacy … is the perfect CONVERSE of Christ as seen in His life.” Continue reading Ian Paisley is Alive, and at Rest→
The Apparitions of Mary picked up their pace just in time to usher in an 11th century “Eucharistic Revolution” in the Roman Catholic Church
Those who have been following this blog have at least some passing familiarity with the eschatology we espouse. As we have written in many entries thus far, we hold that Papal Rome is the Beast of Revelation (Revelation 13:1-10), that the Apparition of Mary is the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11-14), and that the Eucharist is the Image of the Beast (Revelation 13:14-16). Continue reading When “Mary” Got Busy→
“…for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.” — Revelation 9:19
We are now in our third and last week of analyzing the Trumpets of Revelation (Revelation 8-9). Last week, we analyzed the Fifth Trumpet, which was the “Crusading Spirit,” by which men were driven to invade the Holy Land by the sound of the locusts’ wings. The Crusading Spirit—with its obligatory vows, and promises of full remission of sins and the martyr’s crown—is the means by which men were tormented five prophetic months or 150 years (Revelation 9:5,10). After the first four Trumpets, an angel interjects with a “woe” (Revelation 8:13, 9:12) to warn John and the people of the earth of the coming calamities. With the Fifth Trumpet, or the First Woe behind us, we proceed to the Sixth Trumpet, or the Second Woe. Continue reading The Trumpets, Part 3→
“For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion….” (Joel 1:6)
Last week in The Trumpets, Part 1, we discussed the first four Trumpets of Revelation that immediately succeeded the opening of the Seven Seals. The first four Trumpets were as follows:
Trumpet 1: Eden Burning (359 A.D.) Trumpet 2: The Egyptian Tsunami (365 A.D.) Trumpet 3: The Latin Vulgate (382-404 A.D.) Trumpet 4: The Mysterious Fog over Europe (536 A.D.)
After these there is a break in the progression as an angel interrupts to say, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Revelation 8:13). The next two Trumpets are given in much more detail than the first Four, and we will address each of them separately, beginning this week with the Fifth Trumpet.
It has been alleged by some of my historicist brethren that the Fifth Trumpet “is one of the easiest symbols in the Apocalypse to understand.” Assent to this is almost universal among them, as can be seen in the long list of expositors who have identified the Saracens as the locusts of Revelation 9. The Saracens were said to have dominated for five prophetic months, or a total of 150 years.
We will have to disagree with our historicist brethren here, as we do not believe they have sufficiently worked out how men could desire death for 150 years, and how death could escape them for that long. Likewise, the locusts are not given authority to kill men, only to torment them—yet the Saracens killed many men. Elliot takes it rather to mean that the Saracens were not allowed to destroy the civil state (E. B. Elliot, The last prophecy: An Abridgement of the late Rev. E. B. Elliott’s Horæ Apocalypticæ, p. 130), but the text of Scripture is quite clear that the locusts were allowed to torment “those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4) and further “that they should not kill” those men (Revelation 9:5), and those men seek death, but death escapes those men (Revelation 9:6).
We agree with Elliot that the Fifth Trumpet spans a period of 150 years. We propose a solution here that takes the rest into account as well. Continue reading The Trumpets, Part 2→
“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.”—Revelation 8:2
Two weeks ago, in Do Not Weep for Nicomedia, we walked through the Seven Seals of Revelation (chapters 6 to 8), noting that the saints of God were marked between the Sixth and Seventh—that is, between the destruction of Nicomedia by an earthquake and the burning of Nicomedia with fire in 358 A.D. By way of review, the Seven Seals are as follows:
Seal 1: Rise of the Sassanid Empire (226 A.D.) Seal 2: The Crisis of the Third Century (235 A.D.) Seal 3: Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices (301 A.D.) Seal 4: The Diocletianic Persecution (303 A.D.) Seal 5: The “pretended relaxation” (311 A.D.) Seal 6: The earthquake of Nicomedia (358 A.D.) Seal 7: The burning of Nicomedia (shortly after the earthquake)
The Seals are worked out in much more detail in our post two weeks ago, and we invite our readers to revisit the details there.
At the breaking of the Seventh Seal, before the “fire of the altar” is cast to earth (Revelation 8:5), seven angels are given seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2). The angels began to sound their trumpets within a year of the breaking of the Seventh Seal. This week we cover the first Four. Continue reading The Trumpets, Part 1→
Readers on this site have read our claim on several occasions that Roman Catholicism arose at the latter end of the fourth century, and no earlier. We have opined on this particular matter under the titles, What the Fathers Feared Most, One Kingdom Too Late, and A See of One, among others. We have endeavored to show, and will continue to demonstrate, that Roman Catholicism arose three hundred years after the apostolic era, and when it did rise, her ordinances were foreign to the precepts of Christ, abhorrent to His saints, and contrary to the teachings of His apostles and prophets—although they foresaw its coming and emphatically warned against it. Continue reading Do Not Weep for Nicomedia→
There is a reason the Scriptures never portray the Serpent or the Beast of Revelation with only seven horns.
One of the most prominently signified figures in the realm of Christian eschatology is the emergence of ten entities from the remnants of the Roman empire. They are sometimes symbolized as toes, and sometimes as horns, but always numerically as ten.
In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzer experiences a dream in which a statue signifies the rise and fall of four empires, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman. Daniel interprets the dream for the king, and twice in his interpretation, he refers to toes (2:41, 42) as the last stage of the progression. Because time proceeds from top to bottom, and from precious materials to common, it is inferred from the toes on the statue that the final configuration of the fourth empire is a ten way division. Continue reading A See of One→
Roman Catholicism was 300 years too late to be “the stone that … became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).
[This is the third installment of a three part series.]
When former Protestant, Taylor Marshall, wrote Eternal City, he sought to explain why Christianity is necessarily Roman. “The Church,” he wrote, “receives the Roman empire” from its previous custodians. But in concluding this, Marshall has mistakenly transposed two kingdoms—both of which Daniel addressed, and both of which Daniel set against the background of the rise and fall of four world empires. One kingdom is of earth and the other of heaven, and Marshall has unfortunately confused the two. Continue reading One Kingdom Too Late→
The Apparitions of Mary are known for their ability to bring the sun down to earth for their audiences
[This is the first installment of a three part series.]
This week, two “Marian” Popes are to be canonized as saints of the Roman Catholic church: Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. Both were very public about their devotion to Mary and frequented the sites of Marian apparitions. John XXIII was particularly devoted to the apparition of Mary at Lourdes, and emphatically commended “her” message to the faithful. In 1959, at the close of the 100-year anniversary celebration of the Apparitions of Mary at Lourdes, John XXIII said:
John Paul II was also devoted to the apparitions of Mary, and believed that Mary of Fatima had protected him throughout his papacy. On a papal visit to Fatima on May 13, 2000, a message from John Paul II was read to the faithful gathered there:
On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify [two of the visionaries]. Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these years of his papacy. (Announcement by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State)
In that same message, John Paul II had it announced that he would finally make public the “third secret of Fatima,” a prophecy that had been delivered to the popes from the vision of Mary through the visionary, Lucia.
Augustine was worried that what was about to happen… was about to happen.
There is a tendency in some Christian circles to view all things eschatological through the lens of current events. This was epitomized in the late 1980s and early 1990s by a popular T-shirt that read, “If you want to understand the Book of Revelation, just read the headlines!” Every earthquake, every war, every powerful new politician was understood as evidence that the end times were now upon us. This method of interpretation is nothing new.
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